Thursday, January 29, 2009
surrounded by stubbornness
I'm on the 10th day of a mega migraine so I suppose you could say I'm uhh, somewhat testy. However, it seems to me that people are becoming more and more stubborn.
First case in point. My visiting brother-in-law, aka our resident dishwasher (a duty he assigned himself due to lack of cooking skills and an apparent fear of walking G-dog by himself) recently spent far-far-far too much time and effort scrubbing years and years of discoloration off of my well-worn cookie sheets.
No matter how many times I vehemently told him that it was not "grease" as he believed (perhaps I, minor clean freak that I am, was a bit insulted at that notion) and did not need removing, he persisted over several sessions and a complete mangling of steel-wool.
Why would someone, who is requested to disist by the owner of the inane item, continue to do such a thing?
Should I have been even more frank and said "Hey, why not go dust the den instead, or do that pile of mending over there, or learn to bake muffins, or something more constructive?"
Or am I just as stubborn for continuing to believe he should not waste his own time doing something I deem unnecessary?
And even when people are well-meaning rather than impractical, I still find it frustrating when they are hard-headed.
Second case in point, I have a friend to whom I was just complaining about my damn migraines. She offered to do some research online in Japanese on the topic.
I, being a research maniac who has struggled with migraines since the time the internet was invented, told her I seriously doubted she would find anything different in Japanese that I haven't already read about in English.
Migraines are not fully understood by science, people experience them so differently, they are brought on by such a myriad of causes, and can or cannot be effectively treated dependent on all the former uncertainties. It is an endless crap shoot to find relief and a waste of hope for preventive measures.
Hopefully she'll not persist and heed my request to please not waste her time on a project that is guaranteed to be fruitless. Or am I stubborn in my negativity and inability to allow her some charity?
First case in point. My visiting brother-in-law, aka our resident dishwasher (a duty he assigned himself due to lack of cooking skills and an apparent fear of walking G-dog by himself) recently spent far-far-far too much time and effort scrubbing years and years of discoloration off of my well-worn cookie sheets.
No matter how many times I vehemently told him that it was not "grease" as he believed (perhaps I, minor clean freak that I am, was a bit insulted at that notion) and did not need removing, he persisted over several sessions and a complete mangling of steel-wool.
Why would someone, who is requested to disist by the owner of the inane item, continue to do such a thing?
Should I have been even more frank and said "Hey, why not go dust the den instead, or do that pile of mending over there, or learn to bake muffins, or something more constructive?"
Or am I just as stubborn for continuing to believe he should not waste his own time doing something I deem unnecessary?
And even when people are well-meaning rather than impractical, I still find it frustrating when they are hard-headed.
Second case in point, I have a friend to whom I was just complaining about my damn migraines. She offered to do some research online in Japanese on the topic.
I, being a research maniac who has struggled with migraines since the time the internet was invented, told her I seriously doubted she would find anything different in Japanese that I haven't already read about in English.
Migraines are not fully understood by science, people experience them so differently, they are brought on by such a myriad of causes, and can or cannot be effectively treated dependent on all the former uncertainties. It is an endless crap shoot to find relief and a waste of hope for preventive measures.
Hopefully she'll not persist and heed my request to please not waste her time on a project that is guaranteed to be fruitless. Or am I stubborn in my negativity and inability to allow her some charity?
Saturday, January 17, 2009
bad movies, bad girl boots, etcetera
It's been a long time since I did an odds and ends posting so here goes.
Latest bad movie seen: Today I turned on the TV to zone while I ate lunch and caught a bit of the "most hysterically bad movie featuring a seriously beautiful woman" that I've ever seen. Of course it was probably cutting edge back then, the year after I was born. Anyone ever seen The Girl on a Motorcycle with Marianne Faithfull? Wow, in both senses of the word!
Recent Tokyo women's fashion trend: Knee- and even thigh-high spike-heeled black leather boots. I get a laugh every time I see them because they remind me of what we, in my potty-mouthed family, used to call f-me boots. Ah, memory lane!
Hottest snack in our house: As most of you probably know, A's brother J is staying with us for awhile. Soon after he arrived, I made some muffins for breakfast. Well boy, can that man ever pack them away! A's also taken to popping one in his hungry bouche at all times of the day. Yesterday I made a double batch and threw some in the freezer: I start 2 jobs next week -- UNU (where I have been a volunteer until now) 2 days, embassy 3 days -- and won't have time for baking. Unless someone has quick easy recipes for me?
Nickname number 7 for Grace: I think my pet has too many nicknames already, but I can't seem to resist coming up with 'em. Of course there's Gracie, and you all know G-dog, which I use often here on Pinch Me. And those who have noticed her Tweets column (right side of the page) and have followed it to her Twitter page, might have noticed her username there is Grrrace (one & two Rs were already taken when she signed up). But only local friends know I often call her Monkey, Bobo and Stinky. Well, with the help of our pal Y, the new one is amaenbo-ken, which means "spoiled brat of a dog"!
Latest bad movie seen: Today I turned on the TV to zone while I ate lunch and caught a bit of the "most hysterically bad movie featuring a seriously beautiful woman" that I've ever seen. Of course it was probably cutting edge back then, the year after I was born. Anyone ever seen The Girl on a Motorcycle with Marianne Faithfull? Wow, in both senses of the word!
Recent Tokyo women's fashion trend: Knee- and even thigh-high spike-heeled black leather boots. I get a laugh every time I see them because they remind me of what we, in my potty-mouthed family, used to call f-me boots. Ah, memory lane!
Hottest snack in our house: As most of you probably know, A's brother J is staying with us for awhile. Soon after he arrived, I made some muffins for breakfast. Well boy, can that man ever pack them away! A's also taken to popping one in his hungry bouche at all times of the day. Yesterday I made a double batch and threw some in the freezer: I start 2 jobs next week -- UNU (where I have been a volunteer until now) 2 days, embassy 3 days -- and won't have time for baking. Unless someone has quick easy recipes for me?
Nickname number 7 for Grace: I think my pet has too many nicknames already, but I can't seem to resist coming up with 'em. Of course there's Gracie, and you all know G-dog, which I use often here on Pinch Me. And those who have noticed her Tweets column (right side of the page) and have followed it to her Twitter page, might have noticed her username there is Grrrace (one & two Rs were already taken when she signed up). But only local friends know I often call her Monkey, Bobo and Stinky. Well, with the help of our pal Y, the new one is amaenbo-ken, which means "spoiled brat of a dog"!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
we can taste it
I'm posting this from the UNU media studio and there is a nervous energy here on this, the last day of voting for the 2008 Weblog Awards.
We're still neck and neck with our competitors, who though their design (the category we're competing in) is not as good as ours in my opinion, have been around longer, have more content and a more established readership. I like their stuff a lot but do nonetheless wish we could beat 'em because we deserve more recognition, which Net-wise means more traffic.
The whole experience of working on Our World 2.0 has been interesting, for sure. It has made me more conscious than ever of what a gigantic monster the web is and how hard it is to be heard in the electronic brouhaha that emanates into our homes and offices every day.
Here's a gentle whisper from our corner of the e-world: pretty please vote for us! Polls close at 5 p.m. EST on Jan. 13. Oh and also, come read us and tell others to visit us too.
We're still neck and neck with our competitors, who though their design (the category we're competing in) is not as good as ours in my opinion, have been around longer, have more content and a more established readership. I like their stuff a lot but do nonetheless wish we could beat 'em because we deserve more recognition, which Net-wise means more traffic.
The whole experience of working on Our World 2.0 has been interesting, for sure. It has made me more conscious than ever of what a gigantic monster the web is and how hard it is to be heard in the electronic brouhaha that emanates into our homes and offices every day.
Here's a gentle whisper from our corner of the e-world: pretty please vote for us! Polls close at 5 p.m. EST on Jan. 13. Oh and also, come read us and tell others to visit us too.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
credit where it's deserved
I guess I'm kind of excited because
Our World 2.0 is a
I already e-mailed just about everyone I know to entreat them to vote for us (best design) in the 2008 Weblog Awards, but just in case I missed anyone, and to catch the eye of one-time passerbys, the banner above is clickable so everyone please go and vote (once a day is permitted).
Oh and if you're concerned about partisanship, simply check out the competition on the finalist list and you'll see that the UNU Media Studio design team really truly deserves this award!
Our World 2.0 is a
I already e-mailed just about everyone I know to entreat them to vote for us (best design) in the 2008 Weblog Awards, but just in case I missed anyone, and to catch the eye of one-time passerbys, the banner above is clickable so everyone please go and vote (once a day is permitted).
Oh and if you're concerned about partisanship, simply check out the competition on the finalist list and you'll see that the UNU Media Studio design team really truly deserves this award!
